𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗: 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞
June 14, 2018
THE GOD OF WAR ONLY SMIRKED AS PERCY APPROACHED HIM.
"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."
"You knew it was a trap," Percy accused.
Ares grinned wickedly. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids," he said, leaving Olivia very confused. "You looked good on TV."
"Huh?" Olivia wondered aloud.
Percy shoved Ares' shield at him. "You're a dick."
Annabeth and Grover caught their breath, giving Percy warning stares. Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air. It changed, melting into the form of a bulletproof vest as he slung it across his back.
"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."
There was a sign on the back, written in reverse-printed white on black, which made things easier to read given Olivia's dyslexia: KINDNESS INTER-NATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
"You're kidding," Percy said.
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk," he said. "Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."
He tossed a blue nylon backpack over to Percy. Inside, a fresh change of clothes for everyone, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos we're waiting for them.
"I don't want your lousy—" Percy began.
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, nudging Percy. "Thanks a lot."
Olivia went to grab the bag, but Percy finally slung the backpack over his shoulder.
Olivia glanced at the diner, where the waitress who'd served them dinner was watching nervously out the window. She grabbed the fry cook from the kitchen and said something to him.
Olivia quickly zipped out of sight when she saw him raise a disposable camera.
"You owe me one more thing," Percy told Ares. "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle the news?" Ares taunted him. He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."
Percy froze. "What do you mean?"
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die," Ares said. "She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. Ask the sunshine girl. Your mom's being kept."
"Kept," Percy repeated. "Why?"
"You need to study war, punk," Ares growled. "Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Nobody's controlling me," Percy said.
The god of war laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
"You're pretty smug, Lord Ares," Percy said, stepping forward, "for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."
Olivia stepped forward enough to see the fire glowing behind Ares' sunglasses. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson," he said. "Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."
He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.
"That was not smart, Percy," Annabeth said.
Percy rolled his eyes. "I don't care."
"You don't want a god as your enemy," Annabeth warned. "Especially not that god."
"Would you rather Hades?" Olivia asked. "You're somewhat free from other gods once you die. You're not free from Hades' wrath."
"What is your deal with trying to correct me?" Annabeth asked.
"What's your deal with always being right?" Olivia asked, crossing her arms.
"Are you serious?" Annabeth asked. "Aren't you always saying you're always right?"
"Only when I am," Olivia said.
"Hey, guys," Grover said, stepping between them. "I hate to interrupt, but..."
He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.
"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."
They ran across the street and hurried climbed in the back of the truck, closing the doors behind them.
🌣⸻➳⸻🌣
THE FIRST THING PERCY NOTICED WAS THE SMELL. It was as if they'd been put in a giant pan of kitty litter.
The trailer was dark inside until he uncapped Riptide, the blade casting a faint bronze light over the scene before them. And it was a really sad scene. Three filthy metal cages held some of the most pathetic zoo animals Percy had ever laid eyes on: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing he didn't know the actual name of.
Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, and the zebra and antelope were each given a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had spit on the poor thing. The antelope had a tacky silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL! Nobody dared to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but he was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.
"This is kindness?" Grover snapped. "Humane zoo transport?"
He might've gone outside and beat the truckers up with his reed pipes had the truck's engine not roared to life in that moment. The trailer started shaking, and they were forced to sit down to avoid falling.
They all huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but Olivia told her that the lion probably wanted some meat, so freeing it while they were trapped in there wasn't really a good idea.
Annabeth had begrudgingly agreed. Percy sensed the tension between them since they'd gotten back from Ares' side quest. She took one look at Olivia's clean clothes and said, "Shes been with her dad," almost enviously.
Percy didn't know what to do with that information.
After gods knew how long, Percy got up and found a water jug. He refilled their bowls, then used his sword to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.
Grover calmed the antelope down while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too, but Percy told her that it would be too risky with the truck bumping around. They had Grover promise the animals they'd help them more in the morning, then they finally settled in for night.
Grover curled up on a turnip sack. Meanwhile, Annabeth opened the bag of Double Stuf Oreos and nibbled on one half-heartedly. They were halfway to their destination, with nearly a week left to get to the Underworld and stop Hades from causing a war. Percy tried to cheer himself up with that knowledge. Olivia kept staring at him like she suspected something, though.
"Hey," Annabeth said gently. "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."
Olivia glanced at them curiously.
"That's okay," Percy said.
"It's just..." Annabeth shuddered. "Spiders."
"Oh," Olivia said. "That."
"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"
Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since," she sighed. "If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."
"We're a team, remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."
Percy thought Grover was asleep by then, but his satyr friend mumbled, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"
Annabeth and Percy laughed. Olivia grinned at Grover and nudged him. "Wish I could've seen it, Groves," she said, making Grover beam.
Annabeth grabbed two Oreos, handing Olivia one. The daughter of Apollo split it and gave the bigger piece to Percy.
"In the Iris message..." Annabeth said, her voice barely above a whisper, "did Luke really say nothing?"
Percy ate his cookie as he thought about the best way to answer Annabeth's question, especially since what Luke said had been on his mind all evening. "Luke said you, Olivia and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."
In the dim bronze light of Riptide's blade, it was hard to read everyone else's expressions.
Grover let out a mournful bray. "I should've told you the truth from the beginning." he groaned. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."
"Stop saying that," Olivia admonished. "You are not a failure. The only failure was the idiot who blamed you for having empathy."
Grover gave her a sad smile, "Thanks for always believing in me, Olivia," he murmured. "Even when I failed you."
"You didn't fail," Olivia insisted.
"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus," Percy realized.
Grover nodded miserably.
"And the other three half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp..." Percy looked at Olivia. "I know that was you and Luke."
He finally turned back to Annabeth. "The third one was you, right?"
Annabeth put down her Oreo, still uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help," she explained. "Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. Olivia was seven. She was the one who found me. "Thalia and Luke had run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were... amazing monster-fighters, even without training."
"We traveled north from Virginia," Olivia added. "We'd all been together for about two weeks before Grover found us."
"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Liv, Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought... I thought I could lead all four of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker..."
"No," Olivia said. "Things would've been worse if you left us to die. Do you know which gods you'd have on your tail if you didn't have the kindness in you to take us all? I'd rather annoy the council than have Athena, Apollo, and H—never mind."
"What?" Percy asked.
"Luke's relationship with his dad isn't good enough to make that connection," Olivia said slowly.
"Thalia sacrificed herself to save us," Grover said, on the verge of tears. "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."
"You found Thalia and Percy," Olivia said. "What have they found? Nothing. You found both children of the Big Three and they found nothing. Who cares what the council says? You saved three lives that day. Besides, being a half-blood always comes with that risk of death."
"Exactly," Annabeth encouraged Grover. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. Neither would Olivia."
Grover sniffled in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."
Olivia scoffed. "Lame? Could the satyr that discovered the two children of the Big Three ever be lame?"
"You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met," Annabeth agreed. "Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."
She kicked Percy in the shin despite the fact that he was about to agree. "Yeah," he said. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."
Grover sighed, and eventually, his breathing got heavier before eventually turning into snoring. He was asleep.
"How does he do that?" Percy asked in awe.
"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."
"I meant it," Percy said.
They were silent for a couple of miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at Percy hopefully. The son of Poseidon looked over to the girls. Olivia was fiddling with her scrunchie, while Annabeth rubbed her necklace, both lost in thought.
"That pine-tree bead," Percy spoke up. "Is that from your first year?"
Both girls looked at him.
"Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer," Olivia said. "They paint it on the beads. That year, it was Thalia's pine tree."
"We've got Thalia's pine tree," Annabeth said, "a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that was a weird summer...."
"And the college ring is your father's?" Percy asked.
"That's none of your—" Annabeth stopped herself once Olivia poked her. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"You don't have to tell me," Percy assured her.
"No... it's okay." Annabeth took a shaky breath before she spoke again. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her.... long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."
Percy was confused. "That doesn't sound so bad."
"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him," Annabeth huffed. "I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" Percy asked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."
"You shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."
"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."
Another few miles of silence. Percy didn't know what to say. "So if the gods fight," he finally said, trying to diffuse the tension, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"
Olivia sighed. "I don't know what will happen, Percy," she said. "I have premonitions very rarely, but I'm not the Oracle."
"Whatever my mom does, I'll fight next to you," Annabeth said softly.
"Why?" Percy asked.
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"
Luckily for Percy, he didn't have to answer that because Annabeth was now asleep.
That left him and Olivia.
"I'm glad I met you, Percy," she said softly. "You're different from the rest of my life. I like it."
Olivia gave Percy one last smile before she fell asleep. How these three managed to fall asleep, Percy had no clue. He struggled to do the same for a while, but he somehow succeeded, even with Grover snoring and the albino lion staring hungrily at him, but his eyelids eventually grew heavy and he fell asleep, too.
🌣⸻➳⸻🌣
June 15, 2018
IT WAS A BIT OF A JUMPSCARE WHEN GROVER FINALLY WOKE PERCY UP.
Olivia and Annabeth were already awake.
"The truck's stopped," Grover told the bewildered boy. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."
"Hide!" Annabeth hissed. She put on her cap and disappeared, while Olivia created enough light to cast on herself and be invisible to the human eye. The boys dove behind feed sacks.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in, and Olivia resisted the urge to bask in it.
"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his nose, which looked broken from something and never properly . "I wish I hauled appliances."
He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.
"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face. The lion roared in indignation.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said with an eye roll.
Olivia felt her eye twitch. She could see Grover tensed from under the turnip sacks.
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes?" he taunted. "Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"
The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked towards Percy.
There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.
The trucker yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"
A voice outside—obviously Eddie's—shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"
"What are you banging for?" Maurice yelled.
Knock, knock, knock.
Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to the boys. Olivia realized that she must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer."This transport business can't be legal," she said.
"You don't say," Olivia commented.
Grover seemed to be listening to something. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!" he informed them. "We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at Percy, waiting for his lead.
Olivia was already summoning her bow and picking out an arrow. She carefully approached the antelope.
Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, giving them all the time they needed.
Percy picked up his sword and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage. The zebra burst out, turned to the green-eyed boy, and bowed.
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out all the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. The quartet rushed to the doors of the trailer just in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs.
Holy Hades.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, and a few policemen chased them. "Hey!" they shouted. "You need a permit for that!"
"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.
"The other animals first," Grover said.
Olivia light beamed back to the antelope. She pressed the arrow to the cage and it melted. Meanwhile, Percy freed the lion. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.
"Good luck," Percy told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.
Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, thinking it was some crazy stunt by one of the casinos.
"Will the animals be okay?" Percy asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all—"
"That was a satyr's sanctuary," Olivia said. "They'll get to the wild safely, thanks to Grover."
"Right," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."
"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" Percy asked.
"It only works on wild animals," Grover explained.
"So why haven't you used it on Percy? " Olivia questioned.
Annabeth snorted.
"Hey!" Percy complained, glaring vaguely.
"Just a joke," Olivia said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck. My dad will kill me if he knows I let myself get so dirty again."
They made their way through the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, from Olivia's guess, and they definitely looked an absolute mess, but everybody was too interested in the insane wild animals to notice them.
They passed the Monte Carlo, the MGM, pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, though the replica was pretty small.
They needed up at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom. Olivia's mother hated them.
The doorman smiled at the group. "Hey, kids," he said cheerfully. "You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
The guy seemed normal enough. But for some reason, Olivia didn't think to question him. Percy told him they'd love to come in. When he briefly nudged Olivia while escorting them inside, she didn't get a premonition. So it must've been fine.
They took one look around the interior and Grover said, "Whoa."
Which was the appropriate response.
The whole lobby was like a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide curling around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on one side of the building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. Olivia saw virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. The place was a kid's fantasy.
There were a few other kids playing around, but not that many. Nobody was waiting for a game. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.
"Hey!" a bellhop called to them. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."
"Um, but..." Percy stammered.
"No, no," the bellhop laughed. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, loom 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."
He handed each of them a green plastic credit card.
"How much is on here?" Percy asked.
"What do you mean?" the bellhop asked.
"I mean, when does it run out of cash?" Percy clarified.
The man laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke," he said. "Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."
They took the elevator upstairs and looked into their room. A suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. There was a hot tub on the balcony, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and shoot them down like you were Gaston or something. The view over the Strip and the desert was gorgeous.
"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is..."
"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."
There were clothes in Olivia's closet, and they all fit, even her style—which was strange, given that most of her clothes were customized. The bed was a queen size, with bedsheets in her favorite colors—green, gold, and silver. The walls were painted black with starry night patterns that seemed to light up like actual stars.
She checked the bathroom and found it hair products aplenty. Hair products perfect for her insane curls. Camp Half-Blood, admittedly, only really had hair products for their... less than curly-haired campers. So it was refreshing to see they had something as basic as edge control and Sulfur8.
Was that coconut oil?
Olivia saw her favorite bath products littering the shelves, and squealed in delight as she snatched them and a towel and practically threw herself into the bathtub for some well deserved me time.
A quick clothes change (followed by smuggling as many clothes in her bag as she could), a bag of chips (which she also smuggled), and a Sprite (which she sadly couldn't smuggle) later, and Olivia left her room. Everyone else had also showered and changed clothes.
Percy seemed to be stepping out of his room at the same time as Olivia, tossing his bag from Ares into the trash. Grover was eating potato chips like his life depended on it, and Annabeth was watching the National Geographic Channel.
Typical, but very her.
"All those stations," Percy spoke up, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"
"It's interesting," Annabeth shrugged.
"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."
Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.
"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"
Grover and Percy shared mischievous grins with each other. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.
"Play time," Percy said.
🌣⸻➳⸻🌣
OLIVIA WAS HAVING THE TIME OF HER LIFE. She went rock climbing, went bungee-jumping, and splurged on ice cream until her head actually hurt from her brain-freezes. She couldn't help but go around looking for something else to do.
"What a pretty girl!" someone called out, pulling her to the side. "Would you like to try some makeup?"
Olivia grinned. "That sounds fun!"
She hoisted her bag over her shoulder, happily following the pretty woman.
She tried everything—mascara, eyeshadow, blush, concealer, highlighter, and everything else Olivia could get her hands on.
Speaking of hands, they'd given her a manicure. Beautiful black and gold nail polish, decorated with gorgeous sunflowers on each black nail and stunning black tiaras on each golden nail, adorned her hands.
"What lipgloss should I wear?" she asked herself.
"Try whatever you please," the woman said, her dark eyes contrasting her blonde hair as she smiled at Olivia.
Olivia reached in her bag to pull out a pocket mirror, but ended up pulling out a sapphire that Paris had lended her. There was something important about it, but she couldn't remember what to save her life.
She carefully held the crystal up, hands shaking. The center of it was clear and she curiously lifted it to her eye as if trying to peer through it.
The world was in black and white, except for the woman in front of her, who was entirely tinted red.
"What am I looking at?" she finally asked herself, seeing nothing.
The sapphire almost hurt her eyes and then it finally clicked when it revealed the woman's smile to have fangs.
"Oh, no," she said, her memory rushing back to her. "Oh, no. No, no, no! The quest! I forgot about it!"
She grabbed her bag and bolted out of the shop while the woman called for her to come back. She blocked the sound out and ran for it, finally noticing the strange things around her—a girl wearing clothes from the 1960s, a guy dressed like it was the early 90s, a pair of siblings dressed like they came from the early 40s. People who'd been here for decades and had no clue.
"Olivia!"
She turned just in time to see Percy come up and grab her arm, Annabeth and Grover behind him.
"This place is—"
"Crazy, I know!" Olivia said. "Come on! There's the exit!"
The quartet started racing to the exit. The Lotus Casino bellhop rushed to them. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?" he asked
"We're leaving," Percy said to him.
"Such a shame," he said, as if he was heartbroken. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."
He held out the cards, and Olivia fought the urge to grab one.
Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth swatted his hand. "No, thanks."
They ran toward the door, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games getting more and more desirable. Olivia struggled not to go back upstairs. And then they finally burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk.
It was late afternoon maybe, around the same time of day they'd gone in.
But it wasn't right.
The weird spell the casino had left on then faded away bit by bit, everything it'd drawn for them gone with it. The weather had changed, stormy with lightning flashing out in the desert and thunder crashing around them. Ares' backpack was slung over Percy's shoulder, which Olivia stared at. She was sure he'd tossed it.
But they had bigger problems then a bag.
Percy raced to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year out loud.
"2018," he said.
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. Same year, then.
"June twentieth," Percy read.
But not the same day.
Oh, no. This was bad. Really, really bad. They'd been in the Lotus Casino for five days. They only had one day left to finish the quest. One day until the solstice. One day to get the bolt back to Zeus.
Or all Hades was gonna break loose.
🌣⸻➳⸻🌣